San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1887-11-12
THREE Elton boys.
BY W. E. NORRIS.

sharp eyes, you saw long ago how matters
were going with me; but | give you my
honor that didn't Not that it would
have made any difference if | had; for
one can't help these things. II you had
asked me, any time during the last six
years, whether could ever love another
woman as | loved the one whom ] was
once so nearly marrying, should have
laughed at you. Yet that is what has
happened TO me; and | confess that it
makes me feel a little uneasy and
| ashamed"
! could not see why man who has re-
manned faithful all his life to woman
who has deceived him and thrown him
over should have any particular right to
respect himself for being such a dolt, and
/ said so; but Jim observed that | didn
seem quite to catch his meaning.
81 owe nothing to Hilda, " he said land
it stands to reason that if one has been
| Tilted, one is free. 1t isn't to her that
have been untrue; it's to myself I'm too
stupid to explain myself; but six years is
lOngish time, you know, and TO find my
self madly in love again, after having been
| quite positive for six years that that was
the one sensation which never could pos
| sibly experience second time, is a little
| upsetting. 1t makes me feel that | am
not the man / took myself for, and also
that l have been most stupendOus fool. "
"You have indeed, my dear fellow"
agreed, with ready sympathy.
Yes, because, now that | look back
upon it all, l am convinced that never
was really in love with Hilda. thought
l was, but it seems to have been gigantic
mistake from first to last and what sort
of opinion can one have of anybody who
can make such mistakes as thatY'
''Be comforted," replied; ''your case is
not without numerous precedents, and so
far as you have stated it, it seems to me
to be one for plenary absolution. At the
same time, if you are so very anxious to
frame an indictment against yourself, l
think that might be managed without 60
ing so far atield. l don't blame you for
falling in love with Lady Mildred, for that
you couldn't help; but, since you must
know as well as do that you can't marry
her, it might perhaps have been little
more considerable not to tell her that you
loved her,
GOOD Lordr' calculated Jim; "you
don't suppose | have told her, do you?
Why, / never knew it myself until the
other day, down at Eton, when the truth
flashed upon me all of a sudden. 1t may
you that up to that moment / had been
under the impression that only cared for
her as friend. And it is only as friend
that she thinks of me-"
"Really?' said, somewhat staggered
by this announcement. "Then-excuse
my curiosity, but what made her eyes so
red after you and she had been talking to-
gether?'
"Her eyes were red because she had
been crying" answered Jim, CURLY.
He looked so savage that / did not like
to press him with further inquiries; but
he resumed by and by of his own accord:
"She had been telling me about her fami-
ly affairs, and a nice mess they seemed to
have got into. There is no inducing Lord
Staines to economic. He has left off rae
ing, but believe that is the only expense
that he has put down, and of course he
has to support the Bracknells. In point
of fact, didn't come here to speak to you
about myself and Lady Mildred, because
that is perfectly hopeless business, and
neither you nor anybody else can help me;
but I'm troubled in my mind about
Brackncll. He has been very kind and
pleasant to me since have been back, but
| know he is in a sea of difficulties,
and''-
81 expected this" | interrupted, in
some veXatiOn. 80 much for his prom
Use. OF course he has been borrowing
money from you, and he is just about as
likely to repay you as if he were South
American republic. You may as well
make up your mind that you will never
see that money again"
''Do let a man finish his sentence" re-
monstrated Jim. ''In the first place, he
hasn't borrowed a shilling of me, and in
the second, it wouldn't distress me in the
least if he had borrowed a thousand
pounds. But do you know, Harry, some
times / am half afraid that Bracknell is
ScOundrel"
He said this so hesitatingly and with
such look of anxious depreciation on his
honest face that had not the heart to tell
him how extremely probable it was that
his apprehensions were well founded, al
though / could not go so far as to meet
him with the contradiction which he evil
IDENTIFY hoped for. So l only begged him
to be more explicit.
81 suppose you know" he said, "that
Bracknell has been several times on the
brink of a smash and that his father has
paid his debts, over and over again. Lord
Staines is the kind of man who would
cheerfully give away ninety pounds
If he had only hundred left in the world
and he seems to have gone ON meeting
these periodical demands without muir
muir, until one fine day he discovered that
he couldn't raise another Go note by hook
or by crook. Then he took to his bed and
said he was going to die. Bracknell
wanted a lot of mOney-hOw much it was
Lady Mildred doesn't know, but she thinks
it was very large sum-to save him from
immediate bankruptcy; and the poor old
man was so cut up about it that he almost
went off his head. He declared that he
was the only person to blame; that he had
squandered money which ought to have
been saved for his son; that he had brought
Bracknell up to be eXtravagant and was
bound to see him through, and so forth;
and when he was in the midst of his
despair, as luck would have it, Alfred
Beauchamp came in to see him. I sup
pose" added Jim, with touch of reluc-
lance, THAT Beauchamp must be good
fellow. Anyhow, he insisted upon lend
ing his uncle the money; and SOL
'And so Lord Staines rose from his bed
and promptly forgot all about the natter"
suggested, as Jim came to a halt.
'No; not exactly that. He told Beau
champ frankly that he didn't think there
was much prospect of his ever being able
to discharge his debt, but that-that, in
short, he wouldn't so much mind owing
the money to his son-in-law as to his
nephew. Do you see?''
Icould not help laughing at this amazing
method of canceling a liability, which
assuredly would never have entered into
the head of any human being but Lord
Staines. 81 can't say that l do sec"